Have you had the best Christmas??/

Have you? I definitely did !!! I enjoy nothing better than spending a few days with my close and loved ones and then of course there are all those yummy presents that you receive and the wonderful food and drink, it is just magical. So I am sorry if I went a bit quiet and I am really sorry I didn't get the chance to wish you all a Merry Christmas on here but it was a bit manic, I worked till 3 pm Christmas Eve and after that I was frantically trying to get the house ready for our friends and family.

And while I had a truly lovely time I am now itching to get into my stamping space( clean stamping space for once) and ink some rubber, I cannot tell you how hungry for a bit of play I am after such a short break. It makes me realise just how important having this hobby in my life is. So because I have nothing crafty to share with you I thought I would share some pics of my house at Christmas. I like nothing better then to decorate my house and it involves carefully picked colour combos (tend to have different ones every year) and of course picking the right tree. This year I took inspiration for my lounge decor from SU *Holiday Treasures* designer paper, Ruby Red, Chocolate Chip and Old Olive. Here it is

Now I took those pictures today after the tree have been subjected to a full week of central heating so is not at it best looking but it still a wonderful tree don't you agree? and while is not the best we had is definitely the most interesting we ever had colour wise, you might not be able to see from this bad photo but it has really deep green branches with lighter tips which makes for a cool looking tree indeed. My ornaments are a mixture of old and new ones, but I needed Old Olive desperately and those lime green were the best I could find, courtesy to B&Q. Looks really traditional but quite funky because of the lime green. Oh and the sky box was strategically placed behind the stand but it stopped working and hubby had to pull it out and never bothered to put it back(neither did I for that matter).

This is our bay window in the lounge and I always decorate those candlesticks with whatever greenery I have in the garden and leftover branches cut from the tree. Oh and yes our phone lives in that little house( if it can be hidden chances are that it is in this house LOL). I also made a fresh garland complete with lights for my mantelpiece( forgot to take a picture of that one).The hallway is next...

..and because of the black and silver wallpaper I have kept to a white and black colour scheme, loads of white shimmery butterflies some black birdies and two very beautiful and not so black peacocks

Looks lovely at night but a bit crappy in daylight, cos you can see all the cables from the lights not matter how hard I tried to disguise them amongst a beaded garland.A view of the stairs, two very realistic but oh so fake garlands with the obligatory lights and one of those tall and narrow pop up trees that is just perfect in that corner on the landing.(not sure you can make it out in this photo)

Oh and is Christmas even in my cloakroom LOL

Just how fabulous is this boot hey? Every year my hubby's company used to have their Christmas due in a beautiful little town called Oundle, and this place has got the most gorgeous independent shops ever, so every year my highlight of this trip was to go early and have a couple of hours browsing those wonderful places and pick up interesting things for the house, and it was on one of those outings a couple of years ago that I have spotted this boot and I just had to have it!! it set me back £25.00 (I think) but so worth it!! It is incredibly sparkly and very tacky according to DH( what does he know?)

Next a glimpse of my kitchen /dinning room.

Because this room s adjacent to the lounge I had to follow through with the red but I have paired it with white as our units are Shaker style. A mixture of felt decorations and some handmade gingerbread ones that I have bought while on a holiday in Croatia ( they've reminded me so much of home), and a fresh pine garland adorns my kitchen windowsill, I have also got a radiator cover like the one in the hallway that has a garland complete with lights and two tall candlesticks ( forgot to take a picture of those too), and plenty of fresh flowers everywhere. but the best for me was this little guys smile, he truly decorates my life and I miss him so much already.

This was the face that realised there are some fabby looking things under that tree (we didn't bother wrapping his presents)And then of course the presents needed test driving. LOLI hope you enjoyed peeking into my home and I hope you truly had a wonderful and peaceful Christmas. Hugs Monica xxxx

Bleurgh !!!

Oh my dear God!! The dreaded lurgy have taken hold of every inch of my body and I have been feeling like I was dying a slow but definite death since Friday afternoon, I can honestly say that I have never been this poorly in my entire life, but thank the Lord I have been feeling better today( still have a pounding headache all the time and my eyes feel like they ve been poked out played with in the sand then popped back into my sockets but at least I can move about and do stuff rather than laying on the sofa or in bed all the time) so I am counting my blessings and it means I am back on track with my Christmas preps. even though I am running late now.

Today our Stampin'Up! country manager Paula has celebrated the most special day of her life I am sure, her wedding to Paul. I am sure they had a fabulos and special day, they choose a vintage theme throughout and I have made a card to send them. Vintage style does not come easily to me and I did the best I could so be kind LOL>

Now the colours are a bit stronger in this picture due to the editing process if you can imagine it with softer colours you ve got it. So what I started with was a piece of card stock vellum ( if you ve not tried this yet from SU then you ve been missing out, is truly luxurious and perfect for making envelopes or outer sleeves for special cards or even wedding invites, or just used as layers like I did here, I LOVE this stuff, love it!!!) I stamped and embossed the flowers ( level 2 hostess set) in white embossing powder on the vellum, I wanted it to look like lace, I then added colour from behind using markers, the colours used were Blush Blossom , Barely Banana, Pretty in Pink and Regal Rose, I added self adhesive pearls into the centre of each flower and layered my vellum piece onto some Very Vanilla then onto some Blush blossom textured card stock. The scalloped edge was pricked using the mat pack from the Crafters Kit. I had prob;ems trying to find some ribbon to match this card, and I knew I needed something quite sheer and not in your face, unfortunately out of my extended ribbon collection this was the only one that fitted the bill, a sheer polka dotty one from May Arts . I truly hope they had a wonderful day and I wish them both an exciting and happiness filled journey.

I will make an exit now and go put some more baubles on the tree, I might just finish that by midnight. Hugs M xxx

Like little soldiers

Look..... Aren't they sweet? I have made those a while ago for a swap over on ILWS, little 3x3 notelets and they are so much fun, until I have started as a demo I have never made a card this size but can I just say I love them and they are great to have on standby in fact they will make perfect thank you notes for after Christmas. Those little beauties were made using Ruby Red textured card stock( I am so happy I have stocked up on this the quality is high in fact it is just like Bazzill same weight but cheaper and I love it in the SU colours) Choc Chip patterned paper, Choc Chip tafetta ribbon, the cute little cupcake comes from the level 2 hostess set *Cause for celebration* and I have used markers to add colour also to add sprinkles and added some diamonds too for some sparkle. Here is a little close up for you, and go on try some yourself if you haven't already, I am sure you will fell in love with this size.

Talk about Christmas, OMG!!! I' m I the only one that feels like time is just flying past? I still can't believe that is nearly here and my to do list is still huge ( currently running at 2 A4 pages ) the tree is still at my local garden center ( getting delivered on Friday) just about finalised my Christmas menu ( very indulging.. ouch!!) also sorted the party food for our traditional Christmas Eve party( we host this every year for our friends and neighbours, hectic but a truly lovely start to the celebrations) and we have hubby's Christmas Ball to attend this Saturday in bloomin Cirencester, not finished my cards yet but I will have a tray with me in the car on Sat so I will be getting some more done while travelling backwards and forwards, oh and the fresh flowers are ordered. Every year is the same, the stress levels are up there and I end up worrying if I will ever be ready, but I always manage it and come Christmas Eve I can finally relax and start enjoying it all, I really, really LOVE CHRISTMAS!!. So my dear readers if I am a bit more quiet on here that s the reason why. Hope you are a bit more organized than me and you are at the relaxing stage already. Hugs and smooches Monica xxx

What a lovely week

.. I had. As you know if you've been reading my blog I had a few days off from work and my lovely sister with that delicious nephew of mine came to stay over. Well as you can imagine I had the most fun filled days, Luca is at such an interesting age (nearly 15 months) he is discovering the world every day, he also talks ( most of it is totally foreign to us but I bet it makes a lot of sense to him) nearly walks and loves playing with everything else apart from his toys. He spent nearly the entire week here

Absolutely loved pushing his head in there and rolling the drum in fact he was trying to get his whole body in there at one point he kept lifting his little legs to try and get in . So very funny but it was such an eye opener on just how demanding they are and OMG!! how much stuff do you need for them? I am sure those with children would understand. But he is coming on great and I love him to bits

And yes this t-shirt is so right about him being loud!! I wonder who he takes after???

Ok so the only crafty thing I have to show you is a recent scrapbook I have made for Luca s album and I scrapped some photos of his first beach holiday this Summer in Andalucia.

My UKS team is hosting the weekly challenge on there so this was my entry. All made with SU stash, Haiku papers, various stamps and rub ons, I love it but I need to add my journalling on strips I think on the bottom left corner to balance everything out so i will tweak it a bit.

Can I just say a huge thank you to all of you that took time to leave me so many wonderful emails and comments on my last entry, you are very lovely and I was really touched. BIG HUGS Monica xxx

Chirstmas has come early.......

...for me. Here s the story, last year I heard Stampin'Up! was coming to Europe and UK in particular, so as soon as I heard the news I was convinced I would be one of the first demonstrators to sign up but then November came and I was having doubts, my questions were would I be able to do it? do I have what it takes? would SU become as popular and loved here like they are are in America, Australia, Canada? I was having all those thoughts and they made me delay sending my paperwork in. So the launch day came and went Christmas came and went and finally on the 27 of January 2008 I have become a Stampin'Up! demonstrator. You see what I needed was someone to tell me that I had nothing to lose only a lot to gain by becoming a demo, but because everything was still new I found no one to have a chat with me and explain it to me in plain terms what being a demo is all about, and it took me longer because I had to figure it out for myself. So if you are reading this and you thought about becoming a demo yourself get in touch with me for a friendly chat, no hard sell or pushing I will just give you the facts and you can then decide for yourself if it is what you want to do, start the New Year as a SU demo and see where that takes you. Since January I have achieved great things with Stampin'Up! and I couldn't have predicted that it was going to take off like it did for me and I know that here in the UK we haven't even started yet!! the potential is huge and my demo future is looking bright. I have managed to build a fantastic team of 34 girls (I am still waiting for the first man to join us) who make me the proudest upline with every promotion they achieve (and let me tell you there have been lots of them so far and many more to come I am sure) and I am so happy that I have took the decision of signing up, my only regret is that I haven't signed up last November. Now like you already know SU have recently announced they top 3 achievers in Sales and top 3 in Recruiting and I was delighted to have won in both categories, I have been told that as well as special certificates we will all receive a memento to mark our achievements. So I cannot tell you how excited I was and how I waited for my prize to come, well today was the day and this morning I have received a white package by Special Delivery. Inside there were two little turquoise boxes topped with perfect looking white satin bows. Well imagine my excitement when I have taken them out and I read what it said on them

My jaw dropped, my head was spinning and I couldn't wait to get inside them, my only dilemma was which one to open first LOL. Here are the contents A truly stunning coordinating set from the *Tiffany Notes* collection, a chunky solid silver charm bracelet and a matching pendant on a delicate chain. I absolutely adore it and I have not taken it off yet since it arrived (well apart from photographing it). I will have them forever to remind me of my achievements in my first year of being a demonstrator, so thank you, all of you that supported me through my journey so far, thank you to each one of my wonderful Passionettes and thank you Stampin'Up! I have had the most wonderful year and long it might continue. Hugs Monica xxx

ps Sorry about the long post.

Not Christmas...

cards some pretty cards instead. The first one was made for a very sweet lady and I hope she likes it, I had to say a big thank you to her for being extra kind to me so Steph I hope you like it honey.


Elegant Eggplant card base, Almost Amethyst layer stamped with the same image as the main panel and a bit of Certainly Celery to act as accent and to balance the other colours out, the ribbon is from the Fairy Tale collection and is beautiful I wish SU sold it by the reel full, some gold cord and 2 sticky backed pearls. Stamps sets is Blooming with beauty and Pocket Silhouettes for the sentiment. the main image was coloured with my SU markers and ink pads, image stamped with Staz On onto Whisper White.
Next card is one I have made last month for a demonstrator swap over at ILWS, unfortunately my cards never made it as they got lost on the post but have since completed a second lot to ship to those that took part. Is a rather bright affair but I love zingy combos.
I have used the *It's Beautiful* wheel to stamp on vellum card stock using Versamark and embossed in white. Then I added colour using my sponge daubers on the back of the vellum, looks lovely but it does take a bit of drying time if you are working with water base ink, the beautiful senimnet comes from the *A bit of birthday cheer*. Colours used are Pumpkin Pie base , Pixie Pink, the colours added to the vellum, Yoyo Yellow, Green Galore, Pixie Pink and Pumpkin Pie.
Well I ve got one more sleep until that gorgeous little nephew of mine and my sis are coming over to spend a week with me. I am having a week off work due to our place undergoing a major refurb. How much fun do you think I am going to have this coming week? I cannot wait ! Hugs Monica xxxxx